Edit a PDF on iPhone without uploading it, and without breaking the layout

Editing a PDF on a phone should keep the layout intact and keep the file on the phone. Sheaf does both: it edits text and tables in place, and it does all the work on your iPhone.

Keeping the layout intact

A PDF stores words at fixed positions, not paragraphs and tables. If new text is simply drawn on top of the old, a longer word runs over the next one, and a longer table entry spills across the grid lines into the next row.

What Sheaf does:

• Text: tap a line and type. The new words take the place of the old ones and match their size and style where possible.
• Tables: Sheaf recognises the table's grid. Type more into a cell and the row grows to fit, while the rows below move down, like in a word processor.
• Resizing: drag a table's corner and the grid scales while the text keeps its size and stays sharp.

Keeping the file on your iPhone

Cloud-based editing works by uploading the file to a server, editing it there and sending it back. For an invoice, a contract or a payslip, that means a copy of a private document on a computer you don't control.

What Sheaf does: every tool runs on your iPhone, using its own chip and Apple's built-in frameworks. That includes the parts that are hardest to do locally: rebuilding a table, reading scanned pages with OCR, and redacting. There's no upload, no account, and it works in airplane mode.

How to edit a PDF on iPhone without uploading it

1. Open Sheaf and tap Import a file, or share the PDF to Sheaf from Mail or Files.
2. Choose Edit PDF.
3. Tap a line of text and type to change it. On a scanned page, Sheaf first reads the text on your iPhone so it can be edited too.
4. To change a table, tap inside the cell, tap Edit cell and type. The row grows if it needs to.
5. Tap Save, then Save to Files or Share. The file goes only where you send it.

Honest limits

• Tables drawn with visible grid lines work best, because the lines are how Sheaf finds rows and columns. Tables laid out with spacing alone can be edited line by line instead.
• Editing changes what the page shows. In some files the original text can remain inside the file's structure, so to remove sensitive information for good, use Redact (Pro).
• Sheaf is an iPhone app. If you need to edit on a computer too, you'll want a desktop tool for that part.

Who this is for

Anyone who edits invoices, quotes, reports, contracts, leases or forms on their phone, and would rather the document stayed on the phone. More detail on each part: editing tables, editing text, and why on-device beats the cloud for private files.